Today In History

Briefing - TODAY IN HISTORY

ON THIS DATE in 1816, Paul Julius Reuter, founder of the British news agency bearing his name, was born in Hesse, Germany.

In 1861, the first Battle of Bull Run was fought at Manassas, Va., resulting in a Confederate victory.

In 1899, author Ernest Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Ill.; poet Hart Crane was born in Garrettsville, Ohio.

In 1925, the so-called Monkey Trial ended in Dayton, Tenn., with John T. Scopes convicted of violating state law by teaching Darwin's Theory of Evolution. The conviction was later overturned.

In 1944, American forces landed on Guam during World War II.

In 1949, the U.S. Senate ratified the North Atlantic Treaty.

In 1954, France surrendered North Vietnam to the Communists.

In 1961, Capt. Gus Grissom became the second American to rocket into a suborbital pattern around Earth, flying aboard the Liberty Bell 7.

In 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin blasted off from the moon aboard the lunar module.

In 1980, draft registration began in the United States for 19- and 20-year-old men.

In 1994, former Senate Republican leader Hugh Scott died in Falls Church, Va., at 93. ... Britain's Labor Party elected Tony Blair its new leader, succeeding the late John Smith.

In 1998, the Pentagon said it found no evidence to support allegations that U.S. troops had used nerve gas against American defectors in Laos. ... Astronaut Alan Shepard died in Monterey, Calif., at 74. ... Actor Robert Young died in Westlake Village, Calif., at age 91.